SPIKE LEE TO BE HONORED AT 61st CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
SPIKE LEE TO BE HONORED AT 61st CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Iconic Director Headlines “An Evening With Spike Lee” at North America’s Longest-Running Competitive Film Festival
Chicago, Ill. – Iconic director Spike Lee is set to be feted at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, North America’s longest-running competitive film festival, it was announced today. Lee will receive the Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing an auspicious, bold, and visionary collection of films that have helped define and expand on what American cinema is, and can be, at “An Evening With Spike Lee” on Friday, October 24. The Festival will present Lee’s latest masterwork, HIGHEST 2 LOWEST, at a screening earlier that day. Tickets are on sale at www.chicagofilmfestival.com.
From his first film, the boundary-breaking, luminous, and hilarious SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, to his early-career masterpiece DO THE RIGHT THING, to such seminal works as CROOKLYN, MALCOLM X, 25th HOUR, and BLACKKKLANSMAN, Lee has been a fearless artist with an uncompromising vision, helping audiences to process the American experience, its past and present.
Lee has a storied history with the Chicago International Film Festival, having helped to establish the popular Black Perspectives program with his screening of 4 LITTLE GIRLS in 1997 and returning in 2006 to honor Ruby Dee at the 10th anniversary Black Perspectives Tribute. The program has continued to showcase excellence in African American and African diaspora filmmaking at every edition of the Festival since. Inspired by Lee’s work, the Festival has honored actors, directors, and artisans of the highest caliber, including Sidney Poitier, Pam Grier, Forest Whitaker, Alfre Woodard, Morgan Freeman, Viola Davis, Charles Burnett, Steve McQueen, Ruth E. Carter, and Hannah Beachler, and this year recognizes Euzhan Palcy.
“Spike Lee’s impact on our culture and the Chicago International Film Festival is indelible and profound,” said Mimi Plauché, Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation Artistic Director. “It is fitting and gratifying that we have the opportunity to honor his incredible body of work and illustrious career, and to celebrate his immense and lasting contribution to the Festival.”
The Chicago International Film Festival runs October 15–26, with film screenings and programs presented at venues across the city including AMC NEWCITY 14, the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago History Museum, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, as well as community screenings at pop-up locations including Kennedy-King College and the National Museum of Mexican Art.
For more information, the latest schedules, and to purchase tickets, visit the Festival’s website at www.chicagofilmfestival.com.
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